Presentation short abstract

Beavers were reintroduced to the river Tay in Scotland in 2007, and the population has been contested ever since. Through a mixed-methods approach, this research explores the perceptions held by landworkers in this area towards beavers, and the socioecological context in which these are shaped.

Presentation long abstract

In 2007, it emerged that an illicit beaver population had become resident on the River Tay. Despite fierce opposition from organisations such as the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland and initial attempts by the Scottish government to remove the beavers, they gradually came to obtain legal status. Studies since have shown the benefits of beaver wetlands on local biodiversity, but their right to existence along the river Tay remains contested by landworker groups such as farmers and gamekeepers. This has led to the licensed and non-licensed (i.e. covert) culling of beavers, potentially jeopardising the conservation gains from their presence.

Previous research conducted on the human-wildlife conflict in this geographical area has focused largely on farmer perceptions of beavers without focusing on a broader socioecological context. Scotland has the highest percentage of privately owned land of any European country. Whilst this land was historically traditionally-managed, in recent years, Scottish land has increasingly been purchased for rewilding or carbon capture initiatives.

In this study, I use a mixed methods approach - survey and interview - to assess the opinions held by a range of landworkers on beaver reintroductions and the underlying values which explain these opinions. By including a mixture of landowners, mixed-tenure landworkers, tenant landworkers and employees, I assess how landownership and land history factors into these values, as well as exploring the potential barriers of non-landownership to local environmental governance.